Alexander Tucker has shared the first single ‘Energy Alphas’ from his recently announced eighth studio album, Guild of the Asbestos Weaver, due out on Thrill Jockey on August 23.

On the new single, Tucker pushes a simple pop structure to breaking point, sculpting loops of overdriven bass, distorted electronics and multitracked vocals into a towering whole. The track's lyrics reference H.P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle; a series of short stories and novellas about a vast alternate dimension that could only be entered in dreams, as well as Alan Moore's graphic novel Providence, drawing on his love of science fiction to create new worlds.

On Guild of the Asbestos Weaver, Alexander Tucker presents a expansion of his sound. Minimalist motifs are sculpted into deep drone constructions; Tucker weaving dense layers of sound to powerful disorienting effect. Music is employed a mode of psychic transportation, with collaged lyrics that spin tales of parallel dimensions and dream-like landscapes at the edge of perception. Through studio manipulation Tucker conjures vivid preternatural landscapes from a synthesis of instruments and electronic sources, dialling into the more esoteric aspects of his sound to create an immersive and intoxicating soundworld.

Alexander Tucker will perform as part of The Quietus Social series in London on September 26, with further dates to be announced.

ALEXANDER TUCKER LIVE

26 September - The Social, London - The Quietus Social presents

27 September - Kazimier Stockroom, Liverpool

It’s the first night of Joan As Policewoman’s Irish tour.  In the gentile surroundings of Dublin’s historic Liberty Hall various cups of tea are scattered about between a baby grand, a Fender Twin amp and a mysterious, vintage style preamp on the stage of the Public Sector Union’s headquarters.  Joan Wasser has been performing as Joan As Policewoman since 2004 and released seven albums.  Tonight we are promised an anthology of her solo work in a resolutely solo presentation. 

She takes the stage in shoulder pads and glitter to open with ‘To Be Lonely’ and ‘Wonderful’ at the piano.  In this environment, her every breath rings around the theatre.  After ‘Warning Bell’, there is an awkward silence as Wasser checks the tuning on her telecaster and stretches her fingers into guitar picking shape.  She sips her tea and plaintively croons an ululating sigh. 

She dedicates a song to Elliott Smith which seems to satisfy the hipsters in the audience.  You can actually feel their smugness bloom in the darkness.  Beside me a cross legged, barefoot man in shorts complains about the quality of the craft cider.  Between songs, the forced laughter of the arthouse greets every mumbled utterance from the stage.  

I’m starting to miss the band and feel a little restless in my chair when Wasser introduces the mysterious box.  It’s a Roland Rhythm Ranger (1973).  Between the Roland and her loop pedal the sound fills out and the gig picks up some momentum.  The fuller arrangement feels more satisfying but the whole show has started to feel like a joke that I’m not in on.  The identikit singer-songwriter arrangements are generic and, though the control she exerts over her voice is admirable, there is nothing to grab on to.  It ends up like listening to the audiobook adaptation of a teenage emo kids diary. 

Eventually every precious, self-conscious note begins to grate and I know I’ll have to leave before I start to hate her recorded works too.  She plays a cover of Damon Albarn’s ‘Out Of Time’ and Prince’s ‘Kiss’ but they are indistinguishable from the general melange.  We leave, unimpressed, but we appear to be in a minority as the reaction between songs suggests that there are a lot of satisfied customers here tonight.